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MARY, Turkmenistan — Turkmen authorities have a repute for organizing lavish concert events and occasions throughout New 12 months’s festivities, probably the most widespread celebrations within the nation.
However this 12 months, regional authorities have ordered residents within the provinces to tone down their celebrations, at the same time as festivities are in full swing within the capital, Ashgabat.
Officers within the repressive Central Asian nation haven’t supplied a proof. However police have been deployed throughout the nation to implement the brand new restrictions.
A number of public staff within the southeastern province of Mary, talking on situation of anonymity, advised RFE/RL that state firms have been barred from organizing New 12 months’s events. Even personal events held at house or in eating places have been banned, they stated.
Imams have advised worshippers that some New 12 months’s traditions similar to “adorning pine bushes at colleges and workplaces, and dancing and singing round them” could be thought of “sinful.”
Locals in Mary stated eating places, cafes, bars, and banquet halls had been ordered to shorten their opening hours within the run-up to the festive season, which started in mid-December.
In what’s normally their busiest and most worthwhile time of the 12 months, eating places have needed to shut their doorways by 9 p.m.
A restaurant proprietor in Mary Metropolis, the provincial capital, advised RFE/RL on December 26 that the restrictions have damage companies and their staff.
“It doesn’t make any sense. These are the times when individuals need to maintain personal gatherings for New 12 months’s in eating places and banquet halls,” the businessman stated on situation of anonymity.
He stated the New 12 months’s celebrations are “one of many few events for individuals to have enjoyable” in Turkmenistan, a poverty-stricken nation the place the federal government controls all points of individuals’s lives.
“State staff finish their work at 6 p.m., and so they normally come to eating places by 8 p.m. However we have now to begin closing the restaurant at 8:30 p.m. these days. So we have now to demand that they depart the restaurant earlier than they even handle to order their meals,” the businessman added.
Extra Police On The Streets
Mary residents stated they’ve observed an elevated police presence on the streets in latest days.
“Police are banning individuals from gathering for personal events even of their properties. When there may be loud music, [police] demand that individuals flip it down,” one native man stated.
However police flip a blind eye to the actions of presidency officers and different well-connected individuals who disregard the brand new guidelines, a number of residents claimed.
In neighboring Lebap Province, the opening hours of eating places haven’t been affected. However public staff in lots of components of Lebap have been banned from celebrating New 12 months’s in eating places, bars, cafes, and even their workplaces.
A state worker in Lebap advised RFE/RL on December 20 that the ban was introduced by firm managers, who knowledgeable their workers that they’d be fired in the event that they violated the ban.
In Balkan Province, state-backed imams have advised worshippers throughout mosque sermons that celebrating New 12 months’s is un-Islamic.
The imams advised the congregations that some New 12 months’s traditions similar to “adorning pine bushes at colleges and workplaces, and dancing and singing round them” could be thought of “sinful,” in accordance with locals.
A legacy of the Soviet period, New 12 months’s celebrations are held throughout Central Asia, a predominately Muslim area. Individuals set up embellished pine bushes at house whereas some set off fireworks to ring within the New 12 months.
Municipal authorities manage concert events, meals fares, and different occasions through the vacation season. New 12 months bushes are additionally put in in cities, the place decorations adorn the streets for a number of weeks.
No Announcement
The New 12 months’s restrictions within the provinces weren’t publicly introduced, and the federal government has not supplied any explanations.
Turkmen authorities typically power individuals to participate in varied state-organized occasions and parades. However they’re cautious of personal gatherings.
Some have linked the restrictions to security issues. Final 12 months, 4 individuals had been killed and 30 wounded when do-it-yourself fireworks exploded in entrance of a crowd in Lebap.
Law enforcement officials have visited colleges and houses within the provinces in latest days to discourage younger individuals from making or setting off fireworks throughout New 12 months’s festivities. Mother and father have been warned that they face fines if their youngsters violate the ban.
Authorities have additionally banned bonfires close to residence blocks.
However it’s unclear if the restrictions are all associated to security issues.
The shortage of New 12 months cheer within the provinces contrasts with the lavish festivities in Ashgabat. On December 15, an outside live performance and social gathering was held after the town’s New 12 months tree was lit up. The ceremony formally kicked off the festive season.
Roads in central Ashgabat had been cleared on December 15 for Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, the standard symbols of New 12 months’s in former Soviet nations, who arrived in a white carriage.
A number of different concert events and occasions have been introduced by state media to have a good time New 12 months’s within the capital.
Written by Farangis Najibullah based mostly on reporting by RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service correspondents
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